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Introduction: 1960 – a Year of Destiny

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Introduction: 1960 – a Year of Destiny The South African liberation movements in exile, c. 1945-1970. Arianna Lissoni This thesis is submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Ph.D at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, January 2008. ABSTRACT This thesis focuses on the reorganisation in exile of the African National Congress (ANC) and Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) of South Africa during the 1960s. The 1960s are generally regarded as a period of quiescence in the historiography of the South African liberation struggle. This study partially challenges such a view. It argues that although the 1960s witnessed the progressive silencing of all forms of opposition by the apartheid government in South Africa, this was also a difficult time of experimentation and change, during which the exiled liberation movements had to adjust to the dramatically altered conditions of struggle emerging in the post-Sharpeville context. The thesis traces the roots and early history of the international networks of solidarity between South Africa and Britain from the time of the 1945 Pan African Congress to the founding of the British Anti-Apartheid Movement in 1960. It proceeds to examine the first attempts by the South African liberation movements to set up an external presence through the South African United Front, the causes of its demise and its legacy in terms of future unity. The establishment of the external mission of the ANC, its activities, and its relationship with host African countries vis-à-vis that of the PAC are analysed in detail. The research then focuses on problems of representation emerging from the gradual take-over of the ANC external mission as the sole representative of the whole of the Congress Alliance as a result of the Rivonia raid and trial. It is suggested that the internal debate between the ANC and its allies, most notably the South African Communist Party, signal a transition from the multi-racial approach of the 1950s to the creation of a unitary, non-racial liberation front. Issues of strategy and tactics arising from the decision to embark on a path of armed struggle in the early part of the decade are also analysed, including the state of affairs within the ANC’s armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe, and the complex relationship between military and political structures. Finally, the parallel development of the PAC in exile is reviewed, and some of its distinctive features are compared and contrasted to those of the ANC. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 6 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 8 INTRODUCTION 1960: A year of destiny? 10 Periodisation and outline ............................................................................................................................. 22 Methodology and sources ............................................................................................................................. 29 CHAPTER ONE External support for the South African liberation struggle, c. 1945-1960 32 The ANC, Britain and the United Nations .................................................................................................... 34 The 1945 Manchester Pan-African Congress ............................................................................................... 40 Early campaigning against apartheid in the UK .......................................................................................... 44 Early South African political exile ............................................................................................................... 49 International links through the SACP .......................................................................................................... 53 SASA, SAFA and the CAO ............................................................................................................................ 58 The ANC’s call for a boycott ........................................................................................................................ 62 “Boycott Slave-drivers Goods” .................................................................................................................... 65 The Boycott Movement ................................................................................................................................. 69 British support for the Boycott Month .......................................................................................................... 73 The Boycott Month ....................................................................................................................................... 78 Sharpeville and future implications .............................................................................................................. 79 South African exiles and the AAM in the 1960s ........................................................................................... 83 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................... 86 CHAPTER TWO The South African United Front, June 1960-March 1962 89 The Making of the SAUF, April-June 1960 .................................................................................................. 93 SAUF membership, organisation and structure ......................................................................................... 100 The SAUF in London .................................................................................................................................. 105 Relations with British organisations .......................................................................................................... 108 The South African Republic and the Commonwealth ................................................................................. 109 The United Nations and economic sanctions.............................................................................................. 113 From the December 1960 Consultative Convention to the May 1961 stay-at-home .................................. 117 3 Dissolution ................................................................................................................................................. 121 Multi-racialism versus African nationalism ............................................................................................... 124 Future unity ................................................................................................................................................ 131 ANC-PAC relations on Robben Island ....................................................................................................... 134 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................. 136 CHAPTER THREE The ANC and the PAC in exile, c. 1962-1965 139 The politics of multi-racialism in the 1950s ............................................................................................... 141 Setting up the ANC external mission: the “African image” ....................................................................... 146 Rivonia and implications ............................................................................................................................ 152 Relations with Ghana ................................................................................................................................. 157 Relations with Tanzania ............................................................................................................................. 165 Relations with Zambia ................................................................................................................................ 168 The PAC/Poqo underground and moves to crush unity, c. 1960-1962....................................................... 173 The PAC in Basutoland .............................................................................................................................. 180 The Presidential Council of the PAC and plans for a general uprising ..................................................... 184 Final curtailment of PAC activities in Basutoland ..................................................................................... 198 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................. 211 CHAPTER FOUR Internal debates, c. 1965-1967 213 Criticism of the “African image” ............................................................................................................... 214 Barney Desai’s clash with the ANC external mission ................................................................................ 215 The PAC, c. 1965-1967 .............................................................................................................................. 234 The Moshi Conference ................................................................................................................................ 237 The ‘London Debates’ ................................................................................................................................ 246 The SACP in exile ....................................................................................................................................... 253 The first meeting of the Congress Alliance partners in exile .....................................................................
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